### Akali dai Remethiel **« _Rumors of Sovereigns _»** She had tasted the emotion of the rumor as it swirled around the small town of Misala, bright yellows and reds, everyone was dubious and excited in near equal measure, but she needn't use her taste to see that. Everyone glanced at newcomers suspiciously, or sat jittering in their seats. She curved to the outskirts of any gathering, hiding behind barrels, or on rooftops. She was as wary as a wild animal, but she had come rushing at those same rumors that had brought the rest. _Sovereigns_. Twenty five of them, and she was sure she had heard that was for _each_ person gathered. She had never seen such a large gathering of people like herself, capable of using the Arcane Magic. Her lips curved into a smile, revealing her almost too-white teeth, and she tucked a long strand of her ebony hair behind an elegantly tapered elvish ear. She was crouching on a roof overlooking the crowd below, eagerly awaiting the mysterious employer. Viva sat atop her right shoulder, munching on an almond that Akali had managed to scavenge from the nearby countryside on their way to Misala. Money wasn't the reason that Akali had come from her life in the wilds, it was purely for the fact that anyone interested in hiring so large a number of mages _must_ be after something wonderful. Akali wanted, nay, **needed** that something wonderful. She would use it for the betterment of the world, and she would rip it from the hands of those who might use it for ugly deeds. She hadn't felt this alive in years, not since her mother had been by her side. -------- **« _Smelling Colors_ »** When the mysterious employer appeared before them, Akali edged to the corner of the roof, nearly hanging off as her body quivered in excitement. Viva had stopped munching on the almond in her paws and seemed to radiate the same excitement as Akali. _'The Weisstraugh Archives?! So much beauty, so much power, we need it! So many other ones to contend with, but we will be able to get what we want in the end... We always do.'_ She scanned the mages below to identify people of interest who might get in her way. Two elves, she realized with a start. One seemed nearly as old as she, but she sensed something from him she didn't know how to be sure of. His personality was intense, like a summer sun scorching down upon you. She smelled _scarlet red_ from Eddy's personality. She felt the urge to seek a body of water when looking at him, but the other elf was nearly the opposite. She was like the forest, quiet yet strong, a symbol of the beauty of nature. _Deep emerald_, that was the color Akali smelled from Darthalia, and Akali would like nothing better than to spend hours in the shade of her. Akali loved creation and Darthalia was fragrant with that scent, too. Then there were others... _humans_. Akali had more interaction in her life time with them than dwarves, but humans seemed the uglier of the two to her. They were not usually pleasant to be around, and conflicted harshly with the beauty of nature. This one smelled of _ashen grey_, a human boy not quite yet a man, just a youngling in Akali's eyes. Ordore was caution itself, distrust... Ugly. Something had wronged him, and he would not learn the beauty of the world for many years, Akali was almost sure of that. Perhaps she could edge him along? She might try. She glanced over to see another human, a more masculine figure this time. Older than most of the others, he smelled of _acid green_, a volatile man who could spout venom from his words. Viktor was somebody that Akali wanted to speak with, he seemed to have a defensive nature about himself... and defenses meant _secrets_. And sometimes secrets meant _beauty_. Her eyes locked onto an odd creature, a female thing dressed in primal armor that reminded her of one of the beasts of the wild, one of the kinds that devoured any poor soul unfortunate enough to step into it's path. Mastrix reeked of _abyss black_, the deepest, darkest, scariest abyss that Akali could imagine. She wouldn't be crossing _that one's_ path, Akali was sure of it. And she finally noticed the last person of note, a human man who smelled of _bright sapphire_, wary but not overly distrusting, and malleable like the clear sky, able to take life one step at a time. She liked the scent of Ru the most from the humans, and it helped that she thought he was particularly beautiful. For a very young adult human, that is. Their employer, however, she couldn't seem to smell anything from. It frustrated her, not being able to tell his emotions or personality, nor his color, from her vantage point. He was just... blank. She hated things with no beauty at all, yet she _needed_ this mysterious cloaked thing so she could go to the Archives. It grated on her nerves, yet he _could_ create, and that was something that Akali delighted in. And then things got ugly, fast. ------ **« _The Ugliness of Battle_ »** Akali nearly fell from her spot on the rooftop in complete horror and shock when the elven man shot the bandit leader in the face, putting an end to his tirade. It was chaos below, especially when the scary female in the primal armor set the town ablaze in her rampage. Akali was forced to leap from the roof where she crouched and onto the ground to avoid the flames licking the rooftop. Viva quickly scampered into the back of Akali's shirt for protection, making frightened chirps. **"You're dead, elf wench!"** Akali barely had time to react when a gruff male voice came from behind her just before the sword landed where she had been. She vaulted backwards with the use of her staff and then twirled it around in front of her, casting _Illusionaire_ on the muscular male bandit. Visions of horror swam before his eyes as he fell to the ground, screaming and writhing in pain and fear. Akali turned from him, only to duck underneath the axe of another that had come from the shadows. **"We hate sneaky things trying to hurt us!"** Her musical voice startled the bandit, as it sounded as if she were singing as she spoke, even in the midst of combat. She tripped the bandit with her staff, then gave him a sharp blow to the diaphragm that took the wind from him. Akali lightly hopped over his body, shaking his hand off when he tried to weakly grip her booted foot. She scanned over the village-turned-battlefield, and frown tugged at her usually grinning lips. Misala had been beautiful before the fires and blood had tainted that beauty, at least in her opinion. Nature and civilization collaborating... that was something splendid to behold, now ruined and in burning ashes. The scent of _blood red_ ran through the town. Anger. Death. Ugliness. She spotted a gathering of bandits and mages fighting each other, and she became angrier the more they hurt each other. Blood splattered against the dilapidated buildings and across the ground, ruining nature. Akali raised her staff to the sky and incanted, **"Starlight, Starbright, befuddle their fight!"** A shower of brilliant arcane stars rained down on the gathering of perhaps a dozen people, and spectral rabbits and ferrets popped into existence as the stars hit objects or people. These critters ran at bandits and mages alike, exploding on impact. The wounds of a bandit stitched themselves back together from where his skin had been seared away by fire when a rabbit touched him, while a mage was knocked back in the unexpected blast of a ferret. If anything, her spell only caused more chaos, though Akali was pleased by the effects. She couldn't stand to see the overwhelming victory of the mages, as they seemed to misunderstand the responsibilities that their power gave them. **"With great power, we must use it for good, and never for evil..."** Akali murmured the words her mother had said to her long ago. This utter domination was anything but good, even if the bandits had picked this fight. Stirred by her previous spell, two more bandits came from the woodwork, one with a sword, the other with a long spear. **"We are not interested in this fight anymore, silly ones! Stop coming for us!"** Akali scowled at the pair and parried a stab of the bandit's spear with her staff, and barely side-stepped the sword user's downward arcing swing. She had a bruise blooming where the dull sword had scraped her shoulder. She pressed a hand against it in disbelief, and she seemed to radiate danger from her entire being. Her eyes widened, and her lips parted into a snarl. **"We do not like being made ugly! WE DO NOT LIKE IT AT ALL!"** From all around her, the world seemed to become fantastical, more alien than natural. The bandits stopped charging at her as they felt _things_ skittering all over their bodies, and the maniacal laughter of fairies in their ears. Akali slid her staff into it's loop on the back of her strange garb while her _Beautify_ worked it's magic. A fairy landed on her shoulder, taking away the dark purple tinge of her bruise, but leaving most of the pain. She swiftly jumped over bodies and skirted around the remainder of the battles as she made her way to the _Raenor's War Table_ that their employer was still standing near, seemingly protected from all harm by some invisible force. When she arrived, she flipped onto it, crouching there like a wild tiger before it's pounce. **"We do not like being made into pawns, but we will put it up with it for chance to see the _Archives_, robed man."** Her musical voice chimed, high pitched and cheerful sounding, contrasting the words. **"But we think that perhaps this bandit attack was not purely coincidental. Somebody wanted this to happen, and we are not happy to see such ugliness... but again, for the _Archives_, it is worth this. So tell us, robed man, have we passed your test?"** During her speech, her eyes constantly flicked down to the map laid on the table just next to her, and her fingers twitched with the desire to pick it up and study it. She wanted that map for her own, to see the world as it was when magic was prominent... it would help her make this world much more beautiful.